Method and apparatus for enabling real-time bi-directional transactions on a network

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing real-time, two-way transactional capabilities on the Web. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for enabling object routing, the method comprising the steps of creating a virtual information store containing information entries and attributes associating each of the information entries and the attributes with an object identity, and assigning a unique network address to each of the object identities. A method is also disclosed for enabling service management of the value-added network service, to perform OAM&amp;P functions on the services network.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under Title 35, United States Code,Section 112(c) of the United States provisional application having theSer. No. 60/006,634, filed on Nov. 13th, 1995.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the area of Internet communications.Specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatusfor configurable value-added network switching and object routing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the Internet and the World Wide Web ("the Web") evolving rapidly asa viable consumer medium for electronic commerce, new on-line servicesare emerging to fill the needs of on-line users. An Internet user todaycan browse on the Web via the use of a Web browser. Web browsers aresoftware interfaces that run on Web clients to allow access to Webservers via a simple user interface. A Web user's capabilities todayfrom a Web browser are, however, extremely limited. The user can performone-way, browse-only interactions. Additionally, the user has limited"deferred" transactional capabilities, namely electronic mail (e-mail)capabilities. E-mail capabilities are referred to as "deferredtransactions" because the consumer's request is not processed until thee-mail is received, read, and the person or system reading the e-mailexecutes the transaction. This transaction is thus not performed inreal-time.

FIG. 1A illustrates typical user interactions on the Web today. User 100sends out a request from Web browser 102 in the form of a universalresource locator (URL) 101 in the following manner: http://www.car.com.URL 101 is processed by Web browser 102 that determines the URLcorresponds to car dealer Web page 105, on car dealer Web server 104.Web browser 102 then establishes browse link 103 to car dealer Web page105. User 100 can browse Web page 105 and select "hot links" to jump toother locations in Web page 105, or to move to other Web pages on theWeb. This interaction is typically a browse-only interaction. Underlimited circumstances, the user may be able to fill out a form on cardealer Web page 105, and e-mail the form to car dealer Web server 104.This interaction is still strictly a one-way browse mode communicationslink, with the e-mail providing limited, deferred transactionalcapabilities.

Under limited circumstances, a user may have access to two-way serviceson the Web via Common Gateway Interface (CGI) applications. CGI is astandard interface for running external programs on a Web server. Itallows Web servers to create documents dynamically when the serverreceives a request from the Web browser. When the Web server receives arequest for a document, the Web server dynamically executes theappropriate CGI script and transmits the output of the execution back tothe requesting Web browser. This interaction can thus be termed a"two-way" transaction. It is a severely limited transaction, however,because each CGI application is customized for a particular type ofapplication or service.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, user 100 may access bank 150'sWeb server and attempt to perform transactions on checking account 152and to make a payment on loan account 154. In order for user 100 toaccess checking account 152 and loan account 154 on the Web, CGIapplication scripts must be created for each account, as illustrated inFIG. 1B. The bank thus has to create individual scripts for each of itsservices to offer users access to these services. User 100 can theninteract in a limited fashion with these individual applications.Creating and managing individual CGI scripts for each service is not aviable solution for merchants with a large number of services.

As the Web expands and electronic commerce becomes more desirable, theneed increases for robust, real-time, bi-directional transactionalcapabilities on the Web. A true real-time, bi-directional transactionwould allow a user to connect to a variety of services on the Web, andperform real-time transactions on those services. For example, althoughuser 100 can browse car dealer Web page 105 today, the user cannotpurchase the car, negotiate a car loan or perform other types ofreal-time, two-way transactions that he can perform with a livesalesperson at the car dealership. Ideally, user 100 in FIG. 1A would beable to access car dealer Web page 105, select specific transactionsthat he desires to perform, such as purchase a car, and perform thepurchase in real-time, with two-way interaction capabilities. CGIapplications provide user 100 with a limited ability for two-wayinteraction with car dealer Web page 105, but due to the lack ofinteraction and management between the car dealer and the bank, he willnot be able to obtain a loan and complete the purchase of the car via aCGI application. The ability to complete robust real-time, two-waytransactions is thus not truly available on the Web today.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus for providing real-time, two-way transactionalcapabilities on the Web. Specifically, one embodiment of the presentinvention discloses a configurable value-added network switch forenabling real-time transactions on the World Wide Web. The configurablevalue added network switch comprises means for switching to atransactional application in response to a user specification from aWorld Wide Web application, means for transmitting a transaction requestfrom the transactional application, and means for processing thetransaction request.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method andapparatus for enabling object routing on the World Wide Web isdisclosed. The method for enabling object routing comprises the steps ofcreating a virtual information store containing information entries andattributes, associating each of the information entries and theattributes with an object identity, and assigning a unique networkaddress to each of the object identities.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description of thepresent invention as set forth below.

FIG. 1A is an illustration of a current user's browse capabilities onthe Web via a Web browser.

FIG. 1B is an illustration of a current user's capabilities to performlimited transactions on the Web via CGI applications.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical computer system on which the presentinvention may be utilized.

FIG. 3 illustrates the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Model.

FIG. 4A illustrates conceptually the user value chain as it existstoday.

FIG. 4B illustrates one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A illustrates a user accessing a Web server including oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B illustrates the exchange component according to one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 5C illustrates an example of a point-of-service (POSvc) applicationlist.

FIG. 5D illustrates a user selecting a bank POSvc application from thePOSvc application list.

FIG. 5E illustrates a three-way transaction according to one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 6A illustrates a value-added network (VAN) switch.

FIG. 6B illustrates the hierarchical addressing tree structure of thenetworked objects in DOLSIBs.

FIG. 7 illustrates conceptually the layered architecture of a VANswitch.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for configurablevalue-added network switching and object routing and management. "Webbrowser" as used in the context of the present specification includesconventional Web browsers such as NCSA Mosaic™ from NCSA and NetscapeMosaic™ from Netscape™. The present invention is independent of the Webbrowser being utilized and the user can use any Web browser, withoutmodifications to the Web browser. In the following detailed description,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art, however, that these specific details need notbe used to practice the present invention. In other instances,well-known structures, interfaces and processes have not been shown indetail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical computer system 200 in which the presentinvention operates. The preferred embodiment of the present invention isimplemented on an IBM™ Personal Computer manufactured by IBM Corporationof Armonk, N.Y. Alternate embodiments may be implemented on a Macintosh™computer manufactured by Apple™ Computer, Incorporated of Cupertino,Calif. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art thatother alternative computer system architectures may also be employed.

In general, such computer systems as illustrated by FIG. 2 comprise abus 201 for communicating information, a processor 202 coupled with thebus 201 for processing information, main memory 203 coupled with the bus201 for storing information and instructions for the processor 202, aread-only memory 204 coupled with the bus 201 for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processor 202, a display device 205coupled with the bus 201 for displaying information for a computer user,an input device 206 coupled with the bus 201 for communicatinginformation and command selections to the processor 202, and a massstorage device 207, such as a magnetic disk and associated disk drive,coupled with the bus 201 for storing information and instructions. Adata storage medium 208 containing digital information is configured tooperate with mass storage device 207 to allow processor 202 access tothe digital information on data storage medium 208 via bus 201.

Processor 202 may be any of a wide variety of general purpose processorsor microprocessors such as the Pentium™ microprocessor manufactured byIntel™ Corporation or the Motorola™ 68040 or Power PC™ brandmicroprocessor manufactured by manufactured by Motorola™ Corporation. Itwill be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, however, thatother varieties of processors may also be used in a particular computersystem. Display device 205 may be a liquid crystal device, cathode raytube (CRT), or other suitable display device. Mass storage device 207may be a conventional hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, CD-ROM drive,or other magnetic or optical data storage device for reading and writinginformation stored on a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM a magnetictape, or other magnetic or optical data storage medium. Data storagemedium 208 may be a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape,or other magnetic or optical data storage medium.

In general, processor 202 retrieves processing instructions and datafrom a data storage medium 208 using mass storage device 207 anddownloads this information into random access memory 203 for execution.Processor 202, then executes an instruction stream from random accessmemory 203 or read-only memory 204. Command selections and informationinput at input device 206 are used to direct the flow of instructionsexecuted by processor 202. Equivalent input device 206 may also be apointing device such as a conventional mouse or trackball device. Theresults of this processing execution are then displayed on displaydevice 205.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is implemented as asoftware module, which may be executed on a computer system such ascomputer system 200 in a conventional manner. Using well knowntechniques, the application software of the preferred embodiment isstored on data storage medium 208 and subsequently loaded into andexecuted within computer system 200. Once initiated, the software of thepreferred embodiment operates in the manner described below.

FIG. 3 illustrates the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) referencemodel. OSI Model 300 is an international standard that provides a commonbasis for the coordination of standards development, for the purpose ofsystems interconnection. The present invention is implemented tofunction as a routing switch within the "application layer" of the OSImodel. The model defines seven layers, with each layer communicatingwith its peer layer in another node through the use of a protocol.Physical layer 301 is the lowest layer, with responsibility to transmitunstructured bits across a link. Data link layer 302 is the next layerabove physical layer 301. Data link layer 302 transmits chunks acrossthe link and deals with problems like checksumming to detect datacorruption, orderly coordination of the use of shared media andaddressing when multiple systems are reachable. Network bridges operatewithin data link layer 302.

Network layer 303 enables any pair of systems in the network tocommunicate with each other. Network layer 303 contains hardware unitssuch as routers, that handle routing, packet fragmentation andreassembly of packets. Transport layer 304 establishes a reliablecommunication stream between a pair of systems, dealing with errors suchas lost packets, duplicate packets, packet reordering and fragmentation.Session layer 305 offers services above the simple communication streamprovided by transport layer 304. These services include dialog controland chaining. Presentation layer 306 provides a means by which OSIcompliant applications can agree on representations for data. Finally,application layer 307 includes services such as file transfer, accessand management services (FTAM), electronic mail and virtual terminal(VT) services. Application layer 307 provides a means for applicationprograms to access the OSI environment. As described above, the presentinvention is implemented to function as a routing switch in applicationlayer 307. Application layer routing creates an open channel for themanagement, and the selective flow of data from remote databases on anetwork.

A. OVERVIEW

FIG. 4A illustrates conceptually the user value chain as it existstoday. The user value chain in FIG. 4A depicts the types of transactionsthat are performed today, and the channels through which thetransactions are performed. A "transaction" for the purposes of thepresent invention includes any type of commercial or other type ofinteraction that a user may want to perform. Examples of transactionsinclude a deposit into a bank account, a request for a loan from a bank,a purchase of a car from a car dealership or a purchase of a car withfinancing from a bank. A large variety of other transactions are alsopossible.

A typical user transaction today may involve user 100 walking into abank or driving up to a teller machine, and interacting with a live bankteller, or automated teller machine (ATM) software applications.Alternatively, user 100 can perform the same transaction by using apersonal computer (PC), activating application software on his PC toaccess his bank account, and dialing into the bank via a modem line. Ifuser 100 is a Web user, however, there is no current mechanism forperforming a robust, real-time transaction with the bank, as illustratedin FIG. 4A. CGI scripts provide only limited two-way capabilities, asdescribed above. Thus, due to this lack of a robust mechanism by whichreal-time Web transactions can be performed, the bank is unable to be atrue "Web merchant," namely a merchant capable of providing completetransactional services on the Web.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated inFIG. 4B, each merchant that desires to be a Web merchant can providereal-time transactional capabilities to users who desire to access themerchants' services via the Web. This embodiment includes a servicenetwork running on top of a facilities network, namely the Internet, theWeb or e-mail networks. For the purposes of this application, users aredescribed as utilizing PC's to access the Web via Web server "switching"sites. (Switching is described in more detail below). Users may alsoutilize other personal devices such as network computers or cellulardevices to access the merchants' services via appropriate switchingsites. These switching sites include non-Web network computer sites andcellular provider sites. Five components interact to provide thisservice network functionality, namely an exchange, an operator agent, amanagement agent, a management manager and a graphical user interface.All five components are described in more detail below.

As illustrated in FIG. 5A, user 100 accesses Web server 104. Havingaccessed Web server 104, user 100 can decide that he desires to performreal-time transactions. When Web server 104 receives user 100'sindication that he desires to perform real-time transactions, therequest is handed over to an exchange component. Thus, from Web page105, for example, user 100 can select button 500, entitled"Transactions" and Web server 104 hands user 100's request over to theexchange component. The button and the title can be replaced by anymechanism that can instruct a Web server to hand over the consumer'srequest to the exchange component.

FIG. 5B illustrates exchange 501. Exchange 501 comprises Web page 505and point-of-service (POSvc) applications 510. Exchange 501 alsoconceptually includes a switching component and an object routingcomponent (described in more detail below). POSvc applications 510 aretransactional applications, namely applications that are designed toincorporate and take advantage of the capabilities provided by thepresent invention. Although exchange 501 is depicted as residing on Webserver 104, the exchange can also reside on a separate computer systemthat resides on the Internet and has an Internet address. Exchange 501may also include operator agent 503 that interacts with a managementmanager (described in more detail below). Exchange 501 creates andallows for the management (or distributed control) of a service network,operating within the boundaries of an IP-based facilities network. Thus,exchange 501 and a management agent component, described in more detailbelow, under the headings "VAN Switch and Object Routing," togetherperform the switching, object routing, application and servicemanagement functions according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

Exchange 501 processes the consumer's request and displays an exchangeWeb page 505 that includes a list of POSvc applications 510 accessibleby exchange 501. A POSvc application is an application that can executethe type of transaction that the user may be interested in performing.The POSvc list is displayed via the graphical user interface component.One embodiment of the present invention supports HyperText MarkupLanguage as the graphical user interface component. Virtual RealityMarkup Language and Java™ are also supported by this embodiment. Avariety of other graphical user interface standards can also be utilizedto implement the graphical user interface.

An example of a POSvc application list is illustrated in FIG. 5C. User100 can thus select from POSvc applications Bank 510(1), Car Dealer510(2) or Pizzeria 510(3). Numerous other POSvc applications can also beincluded in this selection. If user 100 desires to perform a number ofbanking transactions, and selects the Bank application, a Bank POSvcapplication will be activated and presented to user 100, as illustratedin FIG. 5D. For the purposes of illustration, exchange 501 in FIG. 5D isshown as running on a different computer system (Web server 104) fromthe computer systems of the Web merchants running POSvc applications(computer system 200). Exchange 501 may, however, also be on the samecomputer system as one or more of the computer systems of the Webmerchants.

Once Bank POSvc application 510 has been activated, user 100 will beable to connect to Bank services and utilize the application to performbanking transactions, thus accessing data from a host or data repository575 in the Bank "Back Office." The Bank Back Office comprises legacydatabases and other data repositories that are utilized by the Bank tostore its data. This connection between user 100 and Bank services ismanaged by exchange 501. As illustrated in FIG. 5D, once the connectionis made between Bank POSvc application 510(1), for example, and Bankservices, an operator agent on Web server 104 may be activated to ensurethe availability of distributed functions and capabilities.

Each Web merchant may choose the types of services that it would like tooffer its clients. In this example, if Bank decided to include in theirPOSvc application access to checking and savings accounts, user 100 willbe able to perform real-time transactions against his checking andsavings accounts. Thus, if user 100 moves $500 from his checking accountinto his savings account, the transaction will be performed inreal-time, in the same manner the transaction would have been performedby a live teller at the bank or an ATM machine. Therefore, unlike hisprior access to his account, user 100 now has the capability to do morethan browse his bank account. The ability to perform these types ofrobust, real-time transactions from a Web client is a significant aspectof the present invention.

Bank can also decide to provide other types of services in POSvcapplication 510(1). For example, Bank may agree with Car dealership toallow Bank customers to purchase a car from that dealer, request a carloan from Bank, and have the entire transaction performed on the Web, asillustrated in FIG. 5E. In this instance, the transactions are notmerely two-way, between the user and Bank, but three-way, amongst theconsumer, Bank and Car dealership. According to one aspect of thepresent invention, this three-way transaction can be expanded to n-waytransactions, where n represents a predetermined number of merchants orother service providers who have agreed to cooperate to provide servicesto users. The present invention therefore allows for "any-to-any"communication and transactions on the Web, thus facilitating a large,flexible variety of robust, real-time transactions on the Web.

Finally, Bank may also decide to provide intra-merchant or intra-bankservices, together with the inter-merchant services described above. Forexample, if Bank creates a POSvc application for use by the Bank Payrolldepartment, Bank may provide its own employees with a means forsubmitting timecards for payroll processing by the Bank's HumanResources (HR) Department. An employee selects the Bank HR POSvcapplication, and submits his timecard. The employee's timecard isprocessed by accessing the employee's payroll information, stored in theBank's Back Office. The transaction is thus processed in real-time, andthe employee receives his paycheck immediately.

B. VAN SWITCHING AND OBJECT ROUTING

As described above, exchange 501 and management agent 601, illustratedin FIG. 6A, together constitute a value-added network (VAN) switch.These two elements may take on different roles as necessary, includingpeer-to-peer, client-server or master-slave roles. Management manager603 is illustrated as residing on a separate computer system on theInternet. Management manager 603 can, however, also reside on the samemachine as exchange 501. Management manager 603 interacts with theoperator agent 503 residing on exchange 501.

VAN switch 520 provides multi-protocol object routing, depending uponthe specific VAN services chosen. This multi-protocol object routing isprovided via a proprietary protocol, TransWeb™ Management Protocol(TMP). TMP incorporates the same security features as the traditionalSimple Network Management Protocol, SNMP. It also allows for theintegration of other traditional security mechanisms, including RSAsecurity mechanisms.

One embodiment of the present invention utilizes TMP and distributedon-line service information bases (DOLSIBs) to perform object routing.Alternatively, TMP can incorporate s-HTTP, Java™, the WinSock API or ORBwith DOLSIBs to perform object routing. DOLSIBs are virtual informationstores optimized for networking. All information entries and attributesin a DOLSIB virtual information store are associated with a networkedobject identity. The networked object identity identifies theinformation entries and attributes in the DOLSIB as individual networkedobjects, and each networked object is assigned an Internet address. TheInternet address is assigned based on the IP address of the node atwhich the networked object resides.

For example, in FIG. 5A, Web server 104 is a node on the Internet, withan IP address. All networked object associated with Web server 104 willtherefore be assigned an Internet address based on the Web server 104'sIP address. These networked objects thus "branch" from the node,creating a hierarchical tree structure. The Internet address for eachnetworked object in the tree essentially establishes the individualobject as an "IP-reachable" or accessible node on the Internet. TMPutilizes this Internet address to uniquely identify and access theobject from the DOLSIB. FIG. 6B illustrates an example of thishierarchical addressing tree structure.

Each object in the DOLSIB has a name, a syntax and an encoding. The nameis an administratively assigned object ID specifying an object type. Theobject type together with the object instance serves to uniquelyidentify a specific instantiation of the object. For example, if object610 is information about models of cars, then one instance of thatobject would provide user 100 with information about a specific model ofthe car while another instance would provide information about adifferent model of the car. The syntax of an object type defines theabstract data structure corresponding to that object type. Encoding ofobjects defines how the object is represented by the object type syntaxwhile being transmitted over the network.

C. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

As described above, exchange 501 and management agent 601 togetherconstitute a VAN switch. FIG. 7 illustrates conceptually the layeredarchitecture of VAN switch 520. Specifically, boundary service 701provides the interfaces between VAN switch 520, the Internet and theWeb, and multi-media end user devices such as PCs, televisions ortelephones. Boundary service 701 also provides the interface to theon-line service provider. A user can connect to a local application,namely one accessible via a local VAN switch, or be routed or "switched"to an application accessible via a remote VAN switch.

Switching service 702 is an OSI application layer switch. Switchingservice 702 thus represents the core of the VAN switch. It performs anumber of tasks including the routing of user connections to remote VANswitches, described in the paragraph above, multiplexing andprioritization of requests, and flow control. Switching service 702 alsofacilitates open systems' connectivity with both the Internet (a publicswitched network) and private networks including back office networks,such as banking networks. Interconnected application layer switches formthe application network backbone. These switches are one significantaspect of the present invention.

Management service 703 contains tools such as Information ManagementServices (IMS) and application Network Management Services (NMS). Thesetools are used by the end users to manage network resources, includingVAN switches. Management service 703 also provides applications thatperform Operations, Administration, Maintenance & Provisioning (OAM&P)functions. These OAM&P functions include security management, faultmanagement, configuration management, performance management and billingmanagement. Providing OAM&P functions for applications in this manner isanother significant aspect of the present invention.

Finally, application service 704 contains application programs thatdeliver customer services. Application service 704 includes POSvcapplications such as Bank POSvc described above, and illustrated in FIG.6A. Other examples of VAN services include multi-media messaging,archival/retrieval management, directory services, data staging,conferencing, financial services, home banking, risk management and avariety of other vertical services. Each VAN service is designed to meeta particular set of requirements related to performance, reliability,maintenance and ability to handle expected traffic volume. Depending onthe type of service, the characteristics of the network elements willdiffer. VAN service 704 provides a number of functions includingcommunications services for both management and end users of the networkand control for the user over the user's environment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of the presentinvention. A user connects to a Web server running an exchange componentin step 802. In step 804, the user issues a request for a transactionalapplication, and the web server hands off the request to an exchange instep 806. The exchange activates a graphical user interface to presentuser with a list of POSvc application options in step 808. In step 810,the user makes a selection from the POSvc application list. In step 812,the switching component in the exchange switches the user to theselected POSvc application, and in step 814, the object routingcomponent executes the user's request. Data is retrieved from theappropriate data repository via TMP in step 816, and finally, the usermay optionally continue the transaction in step 818 or end thetransaction.

Thus, a configurable value-added network switching and object routingmethod and apparatus is disclosed. These specific arrangements andmethods described herein are merely illustrative of the principles ofthe present invention. Numerous modifications in form and detail may bemade by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from thescope of the present invention. Although this invention has been shownin relation to a particular preferred embodiment, it should not beconsidered so limited. Rather, the present invention is limited only bythe scope of the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. An object router on a World Wide Web, said object routercomprising:means for associating an object identity with informationentries and attributes, wherein the object identity represents anetworked object; means for storing said information entries and saidattributes in a virtual information store; and means for assigning aunique network address to said object identity.
 2. The object router inclaim 1 wherein said means for associating said object identity withsaid information entries and said attributes in said virtual informationstore further includes means for associating a name, a syntax and anencoding for said object identity.
 3. The object router in claim 2wherein said name of said object identity specifies an object type. 4.The object router in claim 3 wherein said object type and an objectinstance uniquely identify an instantiation of said object type.
 5. Theobject router in claim 4 wherein said syntax defines a data structurefor said object type.
 6. The object router in claim 1 further comprisingmeans for utilizing said unique network address to identify and routesaid object identity on the World Wide Web.
 7. The object router inclaim 1 further comprising means for utilizing said unique networkaddress to identify and route said object identity on the Internet. 8.The object router in claim 1 further comprising the step of utilizingsaid unique network address of said object identity to performOperations, Administration, Maintenance & Provisioning (OAM&P)functions.
 9. A method for enabling object routing on a World Wide Web,said method for enabling object routing comprising the stepsof:associating an object identity with information entries andattributes, wherein the object identity represents a networked object;storing said information entries and said attributes in a virtualinformation store; and assigning a unique network address to said objectidentity.
 10. The method in claim 9 wherein said step of associatingsaid object identity with said information entries and said attributesin said virtual information store further includes the step ofassociating a name, a syntax and an encoding for said object identity.11. The method in claim 10 wherein said name associated with said objectidentity specifies an object type.
 12. The method in claim 11 whereinsaid object type and an object instance uniquely identify aninstantiation of said object type.
 13. The method in claim 12 whereinsaid syntax defines a data structure for said object type.
 14. Themethod in claim 9 further comprising the step of utilizing said uniquenetwork address to identify and route said object identity on the WorldWide Web.
 15. The method in claim 9 further comprising the step ofutilizing said unique network address to identify and route said objectidentity on the Internet.
 16. The method in claim 9 further comprisingthe step of utilizing said unique network address of said objectidentity to perform Operations, Administration, Maintenance &Provisioning (OAM&P) functions.